Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Surge, tuos ignes altus Hymettus habet. Flava verecundo dea crimen in ore fatetur,

Et matutinos ocius urget equos.

Exuit invifam Tellus rediviva fenectam,

Et cupit amplexus, Phoebe, fubire tuos ;

55

Et cupit, et digna eft. Quid enim formofius illa,

Pandit ut omniferos luxuriofa finus,

Atque Arabum fpirat meffes, et ab ore venufto
Mitia cum Paphiis fundit amoma rofis!
Ecce coronatur facro frons ardua luco,

60

He is called, Æolides Cephalus, ibid. vi. 681. And Æolides, fimply, ibid. vii. 672. Hence our author, EL. iii. 67.

Flebam turbatos CEPHALEIA PELLICE fomnos.

And Cephalus is "the Attic boy," with whom Aurora was accuftomed to hunt, IL PENS. v. 124.

53. Flava verecundo dea crimen in ore fatetur.] Ovid, METAM.i.484. Pulchra verecundo fuffunditur ora rubore.

57.

·Et digna eft.] That is pulchra. So above, EL. i. 53. Ah! quoties DIGNE ftupui miracula formæ !

Cicero, DE INVENT. L. ii. i." Ei pueros oftenderunt multos magna "præditos DIGNITATE." And afterwards, from the beauty of thefe boys, the dignitas of their fifters is eftimated. Milton, at thefe early years, feems to have been nicely skilled in the force of Latin words, and to have known the full extent of the Latin tongue.

58. Pandit ut omniferos luxuriofa finus.] See PARAD. L. B. v. 338. Whatever Earth ALL-BEARING mother yields.

He adds,

[blocks in formation]

Milton here thought of Ovid's TELLUS, who makes a fpeech, and who lifts her "OMNIFEROS vultus." METAM. ii. 275.

Cingit ut Idæam pinea turris Opim;
Et vario madidos intexit flore capillos,

Floribus et vifa eft poffe placere fuis.
Floribus effufos ut erat redimita capillos,
Tænario placuit diva Sicana Deo.
Afpice, Phoebe, tibi faciles hortantur amores,
Mellitafque movent flamina verna preces :
Cinnamea Zephyrus leve plaudit odorifer ala,
Blanditiafque tibi ferre videntur aves.
Nec fine dote tuos temeraria quærit amores
Terra, nec optatos pofcit egena toros;
Alma falutiferum medicos tibi gramen in usus
Præbet, et hinc titulos adjuvat ipfa tuos :

65

79

62. The head of his perfonified Earth crowned with a facred wood, refembles Ops, or Cybele, crowned with towers. But in pinea turris, he feems to have confounded her crown of towers with the pines of Ida. Tibullus calls her Idea Ops. EL. i. iv. 68.

66. Tænario placuit, &c.] See PARAD. L. B. iv. 268. "Where Proferpine, &c." And Ovid, METAM. B. v. 391.

There are touches of the great poetry in this defeription or perfo nification of Earth.

69. Cinnamea Zephyrus leve plaudit odorifer ala.] See EL. iii. 47. Serpit odoriferas per opes levis aura Favoni.

And CoмUS, v. 989.

And weft winds with MUSKIE WING
About the cedarn allies fling, &c.

And PARAD. L. B. viii. 515.

Gentle airs

Whisper'd it to the woods, and from their WINGS
Flung rofe, flung odours, from the SPICY fhrub.

"Rofe and odours, which their wings had collected from the spicy

"shrub."

[blocks in formation]

Quod fi te pretium, fi te fulgentia tangunt

Munera, (muneribus fæpe coemptus amor) Illa tibi oftentat quafcunque fub æquore vasto,

Et fuperinjectis montibus abdit opes. Ah quoties, cum tu clivofo feffus Olympo In vefpertinas præcipitaris aquas,

75

80

Cur te, inquit, curfu languentem, Phœbe, diurno Hefperiis recipit cærula mater aquis?

Quid tibi cum Tethy? Quid cum Tarteffide lympha, Dia quid immundo perluis ora falo ?

Frigora, Phoebe, mea melius captabis in umbra,

Huc ades, ardentes imbue rore comas. Mollior egelida veniet tibi fomnus in herba, Huc ades, et gremio lumina pone meo. Quaque jaces, circum mulcebit lene fufurrans

Aura, per humentes corpora fufa rofas.

[ocr errors]

86

90

83. Quid tibi cum Tethy, &c.] In the manner of Ovid, EPIST. HEROID. VI. 47.

QUID mihi cum Minyis? QUID cum Tritonide pinu?
QUID TIBI cum patria, navita Tiphy, mea?

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Aura, per humentes carpora fufa rofas.] See Note on v. 69.

And EL. iii. 48.

Aura fub innumeris humida nata rofis.

Again, PARAD. REG. B. ii. 363. Fragrant gales are introduced, as enhancing the voluptuoufnefs of the inchanted banquet in the wildernefs.

And winds,

Of gentleft gale, Arabian odours fann'd

From their foft wings, and Flora's earlieft fmells.

Nec

Nec me (crede mihi) terrent Semelëia fata,
Nec Phaetonteo fumidus axis equo;
Cum tu Phoebe tuo fapientius uteris igni,
Huc ades, et gremio lumina

pone meo.

Sic Tellus lasciva fuos fufpirat amores;

Matris in exemplum cætera turba ruunt: Nunc etenim toto currit vagus orbe Cupido, Languentefque fovet folis ab igne faces. Infonuere novis lethalia cornua nervis,

95

100

Trifte micant ferro tela corufca novo. Jamque vel invictam tentat fuperaffe Dianam, Quæque fedet facro Vesta pudica foco. Ipfa fenefcentem reparat Venus annua formam, Atque iterum tepido creditur orta mari. Marmoreas juvenes clamant Hymenæe per urbes, Littus, io Hymen, et cava faxa fonant.

91.

106

Semeleia fata.] An echo to Ovid's Semelcia proles, METAM. B. v. 329. ix. 640. And in other places. Semele's ftory is well kuown. See Ovid's AMOR. iii. 3. 37.

Semele miferabilis arfit,

Officio eft illi pœna reperta fuo, &c.

And FAST. vi. 485.

93. More wifely than when you lent your chariot to Phaeton, and when I was confumed " by the excefs of your heat." He alludes to the speech or complaint of TELLUS, in the ftory of Phaeton. See METAM. ii. 272. And Note on v. 58. Not to infift particularly on the defcription of the perfon of Milton's TELLUS, and the topics of perfuafion felected in her approaches and her fpeech, the general conception of her courtship of the fun, is highly poetical.

105. Marmoreas juvenes clamant Hymenee per urbes.] See Ovid.

Cultior ille venit, tunicaque decentior apta,

Puniceum redolet veftis odora crocum.

Egrediturque frequens ad amoni gaudia veris

Virgineos aura cincta puella finus.

[ocr errors]

Votum eft cuique fuum, votum eft tamen omni

bus unum,

Ut fibi quem cupiat, det Cytherea virum. Nunc quoque feptena modulatur arundine pastor, Et fua quæ jungat carmina Phyllis habet. Navita nocturno placat fua fidera cantu, Delphinafque leves ad vada fumma vocat. Jupiter ipfe alto cum conjuge ludit Olympo,

Convocat et famulos ad fua fefta Deos.

115

Nunc etiam Satyri, cum fera crepuscula furgunt,

EPIST. HEROID. xiv. 27. "Vulgus Hymen, Hymenæe, vocant, &c." And xii. 143. And AMOR. i. 563. But this was the usual Prothalamion.

108. Puniceum redolet veftis odora crocum.] So in L'ALLEGRO, V. 124. There let Hymen oft appear

In SAFFRON ROBE.

So alfo Browne, BRIT. PAST. B. ii. S. v. p. 131.

A roabe vnfit,

Till Hymen's SAFFRON'D weede had ufher'd it.

Hence we must explain B. and Fletcher, WOMAN'S PRIZE, A. i. S. ii. vol. viii. p. 179.

Pardon me, YELLOW Hymen.

The text has a reference to Ovid's Hymen, who is "CROCEO velatus "amictu." METAM. X. I.

119.

v. 54.

Cum fera crepufcula furgunt.] So in QUINT. NOVEMBR.

Reddiderant dubiam jam SERA CREPUSCULA lucem.

« ZurückWeiter »